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There’s quiet optimism that gene-edited ‘Peter Pan’ tadpoles could help control one of the world’s worst invasive species

The toad’s eyes seemed to glow red, its warty and poison-soaked skin – normally splodged in browns – instead a porridge of creamy whites. This albino toad was produced by a team of scientists with one foot in a Sydney university laboratory and the other in a research station on the vast tropical savannahs and wetlands far away to the north near Humpty Doo.

It was September 2023 and for the man who dreamed it into being, the toad was but an opening act in a radical new play against one of the world’s worst invasive species.

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Environment groups say Thursday order ignores effort to adopt rules to prevent harmful mining of ocean floor

Environmental groups are decrying an executive order signed by Donald Trump to expedite deep-sea mining for minerals, saying it could irreparably harm marine ecosystems and ignores an ongoing process to adopt international rules for the practice.

Trump’s Thursday order directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fast-track permits for companies to mine the ocean floor in both US and international waters.

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Exclusive: Local authorities have spent less than £40m out of £170m collected since offsetting scheme began in 2016

• ‘Smart, green thinking’: four innovative London council carbon-offset projects

London councils are sitting on more than £130m that should be funding local climate action, the Guardian can reveal.

More than £170m has been collected through the mayor of London’s carbon offset fund, which developers are required to pay into to mitigate emissions from new projects, since it was introduced in 2016. However, the capital’s 33 local authorities have spent less than £40m between them. Some have said they do not have the resources, expertise or time to decide how to spend it.

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There is a cynical, ‘anti-space’ ideology emerging, especially on some parts of the left. But this is misguided

John F Kennedy once called space-faring “the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which Man has ever embarked”. We go to space because, he said – like George Mallory said of his reason to conquer Everest – “it is there.”

While it is truer to say that the race for space between Washington and Moscow was driven as much by cold war competition as by humanity’s pioneering spirit and the imperatives of scientific exploration, billions of ordinary people around the world recognized as much at the time and still were able to marvel at our species’ accomplishments in the heavens regardless of the flag under which they were achieved, from Sputnik to the moon landing.

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Inadequate record keeping means councils do not know whether former waste sites contain toxic substances

More than 100 old landfills in England that may be contaminated with toxic substances have flooded since 2000, potentially posing a serious safety risk, it can be revealed.

Some of these former dumps containing possibly hazardous materials sit directly next to public parks and housing estates with hundreds of households, the analysis by the Greenpeace-funded journalism website Unearthed , in partnership with the Guardian, found.

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Developed countries pressed to submit national plans well before Cop30 as time runs out to avoid 1.5C temperature rise

Rich countries are dragging their feet on producing new plans to combat the climate crisis, thereby putting the poor into greater danger, some of the world’s most vulnerable nations have warned.

All governments are supposed to publish new plans this year on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but so far only a small majority have done so, and some of the plans submitted have been inadequate to the scale of action needed.

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The Washington Department of Ecology on Friday published a draft proposal detailing changes to the Climate Commitment Act and GHG reporting requirements as part of linkage with California-Quebec's ETS and other programme updates.

Traders continued to derisk across US compliance carbon markets except V26 California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) as prices remained volatile amidst bearish sentiment from the looming federal threat to terminate state-led cap-and-trade schemes and regulatory delays, data published Friday by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed.

A non-profit in British Columbia will invest C$2.46 million ($1.78 mln) in five climate tech ventures led by women, the organisation said on Friday.

The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is poised to consider a constitutional challenge to Washington state's cap-and-invest scheme.

Stakeholders urged California regulators to swiftly conclude its extended Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS) rulemaking, although concerns surrounding previous as well as newly proposed provisions continued to linger in comments submitted to the latest 15-day package.

The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) voted to authorised a one-month delay in the annual reporting deadline of the state’s Clean Fuels Program (OCFP) as deemed necessary after a cyberattack earlier in April.

Biodiversity credit developer Terrasos will in May officially mark the first issuance from its new Aguadulce Habitat Bank, placing 20,233 Terrasos Biodiversity Units (Tebus) on the market.

Seasonal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is up 18% year-on-year (YoY) through the end of March, according to a report published Friday by a Belem-based scientific research non-profit.

The Netherlands' national CO2 levy imposed on top of EU ETS prices will be maintained, but the government is easing up on its impact and other climate rules in a move viewed by some as pragmatic and by others as weakening the country's climate action efforts.

A hydrogen hub in the Appalachian region is undergoing turbulence as it faces uncertainty stemming from funding uncertainty and the 45V tax credit rules the US Treasury finalised last year, according to a recent report.

Colombian businesses are campaigning for a more active role in policy design as they prepare for the delayed launch of an emission trading system (ETS) pilot, according to the leader of an industry alliance speaking Thursday in Bogota at the Colombia Carbon Forum.

Canada’s first sustainability and climate disclosure standards are on hold, as regulators hear from Canadian markets businesses struggling to navigate economic uncertainties south of the border and abroad.

The Alberta government remains committed to industrial carbon pricing, allaying concerns that the province's existing TIER system could be dismantled following next week's Canadian federal election.

Critical minerals, nuclear power and the ‘weaponisation’ of energy supplies were discussed at international conference

The UK and the International Energy Agency gathered ministers and high-level officials from 60 countries to Lancaster House in London for two days of talks on the future of energy security this week. The EU was out in force, the US sent a top official, but China stayed away. Here’s what we learned.

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